Infiniti has new Americas leader

Michael Bartsch, who also served as an executive for Germany’s Porsche, has left his position at Japan’s Infiniti as chief of the Americas after serving since 2013. The latest executive management at the luxury automaker has brought in Randy Parker, formerly Nissan’s vice president of Western Region.

Infiniti announced in a recent statement that Parker, 48, will be in charge of the brand that has for the past two years continuously lost US market share and the change was officially announced by Jose Munoz, chairman of Nissan North America. The Nissan executive already had become more involved with Infiniti’s affairs lately – especially since the departure of Johan de Nysschen as Infiniti’s worldwide president in Hong Kong that occurred last year. Infiniti’s Americas unit includes Canada, the United States and all Latin American markets. Bartsch, 56, according to the automaker is leaving to pursue other interests – he was recruited by de Nysschen from Porsche back in 2013 after he headed the German carmaker’s US market as chief operating officer.

Infiniti has had trouble increasing its market share in the United States while all other luxury brands saw buoyant sales – with mass-market parent Nissan also pressing for a larger corporate market share in the region. While luxury sales across the segments soared 6 percent last year in the United States, the world’s largest premium market, Nissan only managed a 1% increase to 117,330 units in 2014. The brand is now forecasting a stronger demand growth as it gets ready to unveil a string of new products, including the compact Q30 hatchback, ready by the year’s end and the redesigned Q60 coupe in 2016.